As we celebrate 30 years of Erasure, I thought it would be fun if we ranked their albums. I'll list the ones I like in order of how much I like them, though I'll leave out the albums I just don't really like much. I'd also love to here a list of your favorite albums by Erasure. Here's mine:
1. Wild!
2. The Innocence
3. Wonderland
4. Erasure
5. The Circus
6. The Violet Flame
7. Chorus
8. I Say I Say I Say
9. Cowboy
For some reason I just really don't enjoy any of their albums after Cowboy until their most recent, The Violet Flame, which I do like quite a bit.
I still listen to Wonderland fairly regularly. I don't really listen to any of their other albums anymore, though.
ReplyDeleteWhich version of Wonderland do you listen to? I know of a least three with respect to actual track or mix differences (not counting different mastered versions), though there may be more:
ReplyDelete1) The original Mute (UK) cd, which contains the tracks "Push Me, Shove Me" and "Pistol" which do not appear on the US versions, plus bonus track remixes of "Say What", "March On Down The Line", and "Senseless". The version of "Oh L'amour" is 3:03 in length and begins with a cappella singing.
2) The original Sire (US) cd, which contains the original version of "March On Down The Line", which does not appear on the UK version, plus bonus track remixes "Who Needs Love Like That" and "Oh L'amour". The regular album version of "Oh L'amour" is 3:25 in length, and also begins with a cappella singing, but then is sounds a little different from the UK version once the drums begin (there is a sound that is in the UK version that is missing in the US cd version).
3. The U.S digital version you can buy from iTunes or Amazon or stream on Spotify. This version seems to be identical to the U.S. cd version, except that the album version of "Oh L'amour" is 3:36 in length and begins with drums right away rather than a cappella singing, and the first sound is the one that you hear in the UK version when the drums start that is missing from the US cd version.
BTW, the original mastering of both the Sire and Mute Wonderland cd's is amazingly good, with awesome dynamic range and great sound. I doubt the sound of this album could be improved by any new remaster.
ReplyDeleteI compared the sound of "Oh L'amour" on the first cd of the Total Pop box (which is the same version that appears on the original UK cd) which has been remastered, and it sounds horrible compared to the original Mute cd, with much less dynamic range.
ReplyDeleteI have the original Sire CD that we bought back in the '80's, though I've loaded it into iTunes for regular listening.
ReplyDeleteThat's my favorite version, because it matches the Sire cassette that I first bought to hear the album. I like the tracks Push Me, Shove Me and Pistol that appear on the Mute cd, but they always seem like extra tracks to me rather than a true part of the album, and March On Down The Line is supposed to be on the album to me. It's probably pretty typical for people to consider the first version they own of an album as the "true" version.
ReplyDeleteBrian, it is amazing to me that you have a cd from the 80's in listenable condition. I commend you.
ReplyDeleteThe albums I have or have had at one point are Wild!, The Innocence, Cowboy, Erasure, I Say I Say I Say, Love Boat and of course Pop! The First 40 Hits.
Here is my order:
1. The Innocence
2. Wild!
3. I Say I Say I Say
4. Erasure
5. Cowboy
6. Loveboat
From my familiarity with Pop! The first 40 hits, I'd guess that I'd put The Circus in the top 3 range, Wonderland in the 3-5 range, and Chorus towards the bottom. I will probably get Violent Flame at some point, but it will probably never be a super favorite. The concert was amazing though.
I would be really excited about a release of the B-sides. There was a christmas song we had on a record that I really enjoyed. I'm surprised they didn't put it on Snowglobe. Has anyone listened to Snowglobe?
I believe my copy of The Innocence is our original copy from 1988 and it still plays great. I am not heard much of Snowglobe - I was really disappointed in Tomorrow's World, and didn't really want to hear more of them. I was then also prejudiced against The Violet Flame, but somehow it has really grown on me. I also have the cd single of Reason, which has a pretty good b-side called Die 4 Love.
ReplyDeleteWhich Christmas song are you referring to? I have the cd version of Cracker's International, which I really like but didn't include in my list of albums as it is not a full album. It contains a Christmas song called "She Won't Be Home". One of the versions of Crackers International also included "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", but it is not on the cd version I own. It is on disc 1 of EBX 3. I don't own any of the 4 EBX boxes and I really wish I would have bought them when they came out. They are all now fairly expensive to track down used, though I'm still tempted to buy them. They have all the b-sides and remixes from all the singles through Abba-esqe (they stop before I Say I Say I Say). I'd love to have the original versions of "Where Were You" and "Don't Suppose" particularly.
I was referring to She Won't Be Home. It turns out that a version of it is on the extended addition of Snowglobe, but the internet says that it's kind of a strangely upbeat version. I listened to a couple of tracks from Snowglobe and I really liked them. I'm totally confused by the new itunes but it seems like they give me music for free now so I'll download it and try it out a bit.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize I could possibly find a copy of the CD version of Crackers International.
I would love to even hear the original version of Where Were You and Don't Suppose. I love both of those songs.
You can stream Where Were You and Don't Suppose for free on Spotify (from the Erasure 2 box). You can also buy those mp3 tracks on Amazon (iTunes US doesn't seem to have them). You can buy the Crackers International cd used for $4.00 with shipping from Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even realize there was an extended addition of Snowglobe. Now I want to hear the new version of She Won't Be Home on it.
I just found that version of She Won't Be Home on Spotify. I think it is pretty good. It seems the same tempo to be but just has a lot of different new noises going on.
ReplyDeleteI meant to me, not to be. To me or not to be, that is the question.
ReplyDeleteToday at Graywhale, I found a 12" vinyl single of Oh L'amour, the original version with Thomas The Tank Engine inspired cover art that had to be withdrawn for copyright reasons. It has a unique mix of the title track that I'd never heard before, as well as the original b-side version of their ABBA cover Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. It also has a remix of March On Down The Line, which seems to be the same one that appears on the UK cd of Wonderland. I was very excited to get it, and it only cost $2.00!
ReplyDeleteThey also had a cd copy of Crackers International for $2.00, so it doesn't seem very hard to find cheap.
A new 30th anniversary interview:
ReplyDeletehttp://thequietus.com/articles/19051-erasure-interview-discography
I received my 3 cd Always... collection yesterday (5 days to ship from the UK is pretty great!) and I am enjoying listening to all of the remixes on the 2nd and 3rd cd's.
ReplyDelete